Bihar Set to Vote in Phase 1 on 28 October: All You Need to Know

Around 1,066 candidates are contesting across 70 seats in the first phase of Bihar elections.

With the first phase of polling set to kick in in Bihar on Wednesday, 28 October, lakhs of voters across Bihar will take to the ballot and seal the fate of about 1,066 candidates who are contesting from 71 seats to the state’s Legislative Assembly.

(Photo: The Quint)

With the first phase of polling set to kick in in Bihar on Wednesday, 28 October, lakhs of voters across Bihar will take to the ballot and seal the fate of about 1,066 candidates who are contesting from 71 seats to the state’s Legislative Assembly.

Elections to the 243-member Bihar Legislative Assembly will be held in three phases, with the second and third phase witnessing a fight over 94 and 78 seats respectively.

How many voters are there in Bihar?

Around 7.92 crore people are eligible to vote in Bihar Assembly elections this year, out of which around 78 lakh are first-time voters.

The exact number of voters in the first phase is not available at the moment.

Which are the main parties or coalition in fray?

While multiple parties are experimenting their luck in Bihar elections, there are two main pre-poll alliances that are at play in the poll-bound state.

National Democratic Alliance (CM FACE: NITISH KUMAR) – This ensemble includes Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), which is contesting on 115 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party, contesting on 100 seats, the Vikassheel Insaan Party, contesting on 11 seats and Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha, contesting on 7 seats.

Mahagathbandhan (CM FACE: TEJASHWI YADAV) – Also known as the Grand Alliance, this grouping is made up of opposition parties including the Rashtriya Janata Dal, contesting on 144 seats, the Congress, contesting on 70 seats, and the CPI-ML, CPI, AND CPIM contesting on 19, 6, and 4 seats respectively.

Apart from these two, the Grand Democratic Secular Front, which included Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM, Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Samta Party, Mayawati’s Bahujan Samajwadi Party, along with two other parties.

How many female candidate are contesting this time?

Out of the 1,066 candidates in the first fray, 144 are women. When it comes to a party-wise segregation of candidates in the first phase, 22 out of 115 Janata Dal (United) candidates are women, while 13 out of 100 BJP candidates are women.

While there are a total of 11 women in Rashtriya Janata Dal’s list of 114 candidates, the Congress has fielded six women. The Lok Janshakti Party has 28 women in its list of 134 candidates.

How many candidates have criminal record?

Around 319 out of the total 1,066 candidates in the state have a criminal record. The highest number of criminal candidates are in Gaya district, which has 10 Assembly constituencies and 49 candidates with criminal antecedents.

In phase one alone, 73 percent of RJD candidates and 72 percent of Bharatiya Janata Party Candidates had criminal charges against them.

How many crorepati candidates?

Around 153 out of 1,066 candidates in the first phase have declared assets above Rs 1 crore. The richest among them all is JD(U) leader Manorama Devi, who is contesting from Atri constituency and has assets around Rs 53 crore.

She is followed by Rajesh Kumar, the Congress’ candidate from Kutumba constituency, who has declared assets worth Rs 33 crore.

The RJD is the party with the highest number of crorepati candidates at 98 percent, followed by the JD(U) at 89 percent, BJP at 83 percent, LJP at 73 percent, INC at 67 percent and the BSP at 46 percent.